This morning the Donald was on
the TV talk shows stating his case for not allowing Syrian refugees into the
US.He doubled down on his
previous rant about creating a registry for ALL Muslims in our country. [Does this registry sound vaguely familiar?] "I'm putting people on notice that are coming here
from Syria as part of this mass migration, that if I win, they're going
back."

Ted Cruz said that President
Obama’s plan to resettle 10,000 Syrian refugees is, “nothing short of lunacy.”
"I recognize that Barack Obama does not wish to defend this country, that
he may have been tired of war, but our enemies are not tired of killing
us," he added.

Ben Carson suggested that
bringing refugees to this country is like having a rabid dog in the
neighborhood. “For instance, if
there’s a rabid dog running around in your neighborhood, you’re probably not
going to assume something good about that dog, and you’re probably going to put
your children out of the way,” Carson said. “It doesn’t mean that you hate all
dogs by any stretch of the imagination, but you’re putting your intellect into
motion.”

Weeks ago, Ben
Carson said, "I would not advocate that we
put a Muslim in charge of this nation. I absolutely would not agree with
that." (“Meet the Press")

Just prior to Carson's interview, Donald
Trump fielded a comment from a supporter on the campaign trail who said,
"We have a problem in this country; it's called Muslims."Donald Trump did not disagree.

So what do the terrorists
want?I have a sense that the
feelings expressed above are exactly what they desire.They would like for mainstream America to hate and distrust their Muslim neighbors.They would prefer if
there were a huge rift in our culture between Muslims and non-Muslims.They would like us, as a nation, to
fear Muslims and alienate them; to consider them dangerous.They
would prefer it if we were to leave the refugees to starve.They would prefer for us to give the
world the impression that we are fearful and isolated and that our “Christian
nation” is not open to helping our Muslim brothers and sisters.

The candidates above all
espouse Christianity.They wear it
like a badge.They use it as a
tool in this campaign.Trump even
likes the Bible more than his own book, The
Art of the Deal.“The Bible, is special. The
Bible, the more you see it, the more you read it, the more incredible it is. I
don’t like to use this analogy [wait for it - he will], but like a great movie, a great,
incredible movie. You’ll see it once it will be good. You’ll see it again. You
can see it 20 times and every time you’ll appreciate it more. The Bible is the
most special thing.”

Ted Cruzannounced
the creation of a “national prayer team.” Mr. Cruz, who has aggressively
courted the support of evangelicals, said the creation of the team would “establish
a direct line of communication between our campaign and the thousands of
Americans who are lifting us up before the Lord.”

Well
played.Really.

But how
Christian is it to turn our backs on refugees who need our help?This is a matter of life and death for
many thousands of people who fear radical, murderous terrorists as much as we
do.Only more.Many who are fleeing Syria are running
for their very lives.They are
trying to protect the lives of their children.They are trying to leave violence behind.They are begging for help.

Today when
I was in church, the scripture was from Revelation.Honestly, I don’t get Revelation that much.I have heard people try to decipher it,
to parse its words, to peel away the meanings like the layers of an onion to
find the hidden value beneath.

Have at
it.

Me?I’m sort of a red-letter guy.You know, the stuff that Jesus
said.That’s what I hang my hat
on.That is what I trust.I don’t need anyone to analyze it or
explain it to me.

Try
this from Matthew.

35 For I was hungry and you gave me
something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a
stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed
clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison
and you came to visit me.’

37 “Then the righteous will answer
him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you
something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger
and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When
did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I
tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters
of mine, you did for me.’

When we look back on our American past,
there are things we should be ashamed of.Much of the world considers the
annihilation of Native Americans to be the greatest genocide in history.There were millions of African American
slaves in our country. Then Jim Crow. Manifest Destiny.Internment camps.Dropping The BOMB.Vietnam.Invading Iraq on false pretenses.

And, oh yeah, we are a nation of immigrants and refugees. Unless you are Native American, you or your ancestors probably came to these shores to seek a better life, to flee persecution or famine. Or perhaps your ancestors came here as slaves, barely surviving the brutal middle passage at the hands of white... terrorists.

Right now, we have a chance to create our
history in a way that reflects what we know is right. We can be brave. We can be altruistic. We can be patriotic. We can do the right thing. There will come a time when we will look back at what we do
concerning the refugees. And when we look back at these scary times, will see ourselves as a nation who succumbed to fears spread by those who seek only political gain, those who seek to spread hatred and mistrust, those who would rob us of our kindness?

There are people who need us.We must make a choice that reflects
what we believe at our core.I am
a Christian.My faith dictates
that we should help those in need. These refugees are hungry.They are thirsty.They need clothes and comfort.We have so much.

Saturday, November 14, 2015

Grandparents' Day. Lots of schools
do this now.Grandparents and any
older special friends in lieu of Grandparents come to school for an
afternoon.At our school we
serve a lunch, the older folks get speechified, they come into the classrooms
for a while, then we come together as a whole school and sing a few songs to
round out the day.

I admit that while we are gearing up for it, Grandparents’
Day feels a little like a chore.Especially this year.We
lost a lot of time with the flooding in South Carolina.We were out of school for an entire
week.The following week we had a two-hour
delay.The week after that, a one-hour
delay.It’s not like I count the
minutes of instructional time – but that was a lot of missed school.

During those weeks of late starts, I nixed recess.I figured that the kids could have a
lot of extra time to recreate before school started.When we saw other classes out on the playground on our way
to lunch, there was a lot of, “MR. O’KEEFE!Why do they get to have recess and we don’t?”

“Because we only have a 5 hour school day.Think of all of your recess at home.”

“But why do THEY
get to have recess?”

“Hmmm.Their
teacher is a lot nicer than yours?”

So Grandparents’ Day was approaching.Last year we asked the grands to talk
to us about race relations when they were young.Ours is a beautifully integrated school and the grandparents
could share personal insights we could only read about in books.We had been thinking a lot about
Civil Rights and who better to inform us than folks who had lived through
segregation/integration?It was as
wonderful as I could have imagined.Some grandparents got teary as they recalled the struggles, the
triumphs, the personal changes in attitude.It was magic.They were slow to begin their stories, but once they got started, there
was a flood of responses.

Once again, the grandparents would come into our room for
about an hour.It doesn’t seem
like a lot of time to fill, but I had put off thinking about it until just a
couple days before.I asked the
kids about it.“Maybe we could
sing some of our best songs.”Check.This is a wonderful
class of singers.

“How about we tell about the food drive and all of the math
we do?”Check again.My class is so generous.Kids are buying food with their
allowance, doing chores to exchange for food for the food drive, talking their
parents and grandparents into making donations, spending their birthday
money.We are charting the number
of food items, the number of servings, the weight, the number of total
calories.Good stuff.

At sort of the last minute, I suggested that we ask the
grandparents to share their advice with us.Given their experiences and life lessons, what kinds of advice
could they share with young ones about how to be happy, healthy, successful
people?It seemed rather
bland to the kids, but I thought there could be a lot of payback from that
little question.

When the grandparents came in I invited them to consider the
question.There were pencils and
papers on each table.While we
sang our songs and presented what we were currently working on in the
classroom, I urged them to take a few moments to jot down their guidance,
encouragement and wisdom.

The last song we sang before turning it over to them is a
little known tune by John Denver called “60 Second Song for a Bank”.It was the perfect set up.

Oh I love the changing seasons

Green and growing all around

Smiling faces laughing children

Making such a joyful sound

In my dreams I see tomorrow

Time and children of my own

Someone who will stand beside me

Helping me to make ourselves a home

If your eyes can see tomorrow

Though it might seem far away

If you have some dreams to build on

May we help you today

The sharing began slowly.Then, as we passed the microphone around, more and more
elders shared their bits of wisdom, their personal philosophies.It was wonderful.There were tear filled eyes, nods of
agreement, a few “Amens” as the grands filled us up with words to live by…

Be
kind to the poor...Never tease
others…Use humor to diffuse an
embarrassing situation. Learn to laugh along with others if you do something
embarrassing... Be all that you can be... Don’t be afraid of challenges. Always
strive to do your best...

If you say that you can’t– you have
already defeated yourself... Continue to keep a song in your heart. Remember
all that you are learning and the way you are learning. Your kindness to others
is a tribute to your teachers and your parents.

Believe
in yourself then do your very best. Be a good friend then you will have good
friends. Enjoy learning. Love books! Always give thanks... Be kind to each
other always. Eat your vegetables.

Never
stop learning even when you are old... Make sure that you will be happy and
proud of what you said and did... Exercise regularly. Get enough rest. You must
endeavor to persevere. Learn something every day... Remember life’s lessons as
well as the “facts”.

Your
teachers, parents and elders really have your best interests in mind, no matter
how you might disagree... Never speak badly about someone...

Learn
to write well and write a lot. Learn a useful foreign language... Be aware of
current events. Enjoy being outside...

Greet
those you meet with a smile. Be respectful to those around you. Help your
family with. daily chores... If you see someone who is sad, go give them a hug.
Then ask if they want to talk about what is making them sad...

When
the day is over go and rest. Give 110%. Only be satisfied if you have given
your best... I advise my grandchildren to be obedient to the teacher... Always
make time to play while you are young and carefree...

When
the grandparents and older special friends left our classroom, going to find a
seat in the Great Room (our little auditorium at the center of our school) to
wait for the finale – the whole school singing a couple of our favorite songs –
there was a lot of hand shaking and patting me on the back.So many of the grandparents were proud
of the work their young relatives were doing and many said complimentary things
about my teaching and me.I found
a few notes left on my table thanking me anonymously for the fine work we do at
the Center for Inquiry.But
for me it was a humbling moment.

That afternoon wasn’t
about me.I was not even looking
forward to it, honestly.I was
thinking it was one of those little hoops to jump through to get successfully
to the end of the week.It was the
Grandparents who made the difference.It sort of made me sad to think that having them in is a “special
occasion” when they have so much casual wisdom to share.I only hope that those words of wisdom
had half the effect on my students that it had on me.

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About Me

I am a teacher, a dad, a husband, musician, brother, son, friend, reader, writer, story teller, seeker. Born in NW Indiana, a grateful transplant to South Carolina. I am 59 years old and can't play on the recess field as hard as I once did.